diff --git a/postgres/hooks/postgres_database-relation-joined b/postgres/hooks/postgres_database-relation-joined
index 5dfc31a..f8de1d0 100755
--- a/postgres/hooks/postgres_database-relation-joined
+++ b/postgres/hooks/postgres_database-relation-joined
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ USER=$(relation-get user) || {
 
 set -e
 
+
 ## YYY: check that password was not already generated/set for the same user
 ## use session state storage.
 
@@ -47,12 +48,20 @@ fi
 
 array_read-0 extensions < <(relation-get extensions 2>/dev/null | shyaml get-values-0)
 
+
 ensure_db_docker_running
 
 ## XXXvlab: should send all these into only one docker...
 if ! db_has_database "$DBNAME"; then
-    db_create "$DBNAME" || exit 1
-
+    INITDB_ARGS=(encoding lc-collate lc-ctype template)
+    CREATEDB_OPTS=()
+    for option in "${INITDB_ARGS[@]}"; do
+        value="$(relation-get "$option" 2>/dev/null)" || true
+        if [ -n "$value" ]; then
+            CREATEDB_OPTS+=("--$option=$value")
+        fi
+    done
+    db_create "$DBNAME" "${CREATEDB_OPTS[@]}" || exit 1
     if sql=$(relation-get init-sql); then
         ddb "$DBNAME" > /dev/null < <(e "$sql") || exit 1
     fi
diff --git a/postgres/lib/common b/postgres/lib/common
index a6feb29..20947b2 100644
--- a/postgres/lib/common
+++ b/postgres/lib/common
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ db_drop () {
 
 db_create () {
     local dbname="$1"
-    dcmd createdb "$dbname" || return 1
+    shift
+    dcmd createdb "$dbname" "$@" || return 1
     info "Database '$dbname' created."
 }